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   Internet Archive Hosts Functional Classic Mac Apps

   Adam C. Engst

   The estimable [1]Internet Archive announced that it has added dozens of
   classic ' and I mean classic! ' Mac apps, games, and operating system
   from 1984'1989 to its Software Library. It accomplished this minor bit
   of nostalgia magic thanks to a version of Hampa Hug's [2]PCE/macplus
   Macintosh emulator that was ported to JavaScript and can thus operate
   in a Web browser. That's right, these are fully functional apps that
   you can run right within Safari, Chrome, or Firefox. (You can find more
   old Mac software accessible via PCE/macplus at the [3]RetroWeb Vintage
   Computer Museum, the maintainers of which helped the Internet Archive
   with their emulation system.)

   PCE/macplus emulates a Macintosh 128K through Macintosh Classic, so
   we're talking about a 9-inch, black-and-white screen here. The
   [4]Internet Archive's Mac Software Library has a package showing off
   [5]System 6.0.8's System Startup and System Additions disks and a more
   interesting one for [6]System 7.0.1 that includes a variety of apps,
   including BBEdit, HyperCard, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and more.
   Remember, you have to double-click quickly to open folders and launch
   apps, and selecting an item from a menu requires you to hold the mouse
   button down after clicking the menu title.

   [7][tn_Mac-emulator-System7.jpg]

   As amusing as it can be to fool around with those old apps, the real
   fun comes with the games of the 1980s. [8]Dark Castle, [9]Airborne, and
   [10]Wizardry are all there for you to play, along with my favorite,
   [11]Lode Runner. Give them a try!

   [12][tn_Mac-emulator-Lode-Runner.jpg]

   For those who remember them, the apps are worth visiting for nostalgic
   reasons alone. However, more interesting are what projects like this
   promise for the future of digital preservation. It's increasingly hard
   to keep ancient hardware running, and unstable media renders long-term
   access to software and data questionable at best.

   If the massive computing power of modern machines enables full
   emulation of older hardware, and files can be moved into the cloud
   while their floppy disks can still be read, perhaps we won't lose
   nearly as much old data to bit rot as we would have otherwise. There
   isn't much of a business model around loading of data and apps from
   long-stored floppies, but kudos to groups like the Internet Archive and
   the RetroWeb Vintage Computer Museum for showing that it can still be
   done.

   Now, if you'll excuse me, I have another level of Lode Runner to
   attempt.

References

   1. http://blog.archive.org/2017/04/16/early-macintosh-emulation-comes-to-the-archive/
   2. http://www.hampa.ch/pce/pce-macplus.html
   3. http://retroweb.maclab.org/?emulator=pce-macplus
   4. https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_mac
   5. https://archive.org/details/mac_MacOS_6.0.8
   6. https://archive.org/details/mac_MacOS_7.0.1_compilation
   7. http://tidbits.com/resources/2017-04/Mac-emulator-System7.png
   8. https://archive.org/details/mac_DarkCastle_1_2
   9. https://archive.org/details/mac_Airborne
  10. https://archive.org/details/mac_WizardryI.img
  11. https://archive.org/details/mac_Lode_Runner
  12. http://tidbits.com/resources/2017-04/Mac-emulator-Lode-Runner.png

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